A Better Life
by Rattraveller
Summary: A Necromunda gang leader decides to try a different way to live.


A BETTER LIFE

1/12/2020

For more than a Hundred centuries the Emperor has sat immobile on the Golden Throne of Earth. His is the Master of Mankind by the Will of the Gods and Master of a Million Worlds by the might of his inexhaustible armies. He is the rotting carcass writhing invisibly with power from the Dark Age of Technology. He is the Carrion Lord of the Imperium, for whom a thousand souls die every day, for whom blood is drunk and flesh is eaten.

Human blood and Human flesh-The stuff of which the Imperium is made.

To be alive in such times is to be one amongst untold trillions and trillions. It is to live in the cruelest and most bloody regime imaginable; this is a tale of those times.

Elgin Stewart watched as three of his crew feed the last of their Kalma to the captives. He wasn't worried about their running out since this dose should keep them quiet until after they were turned over and he collected his bounties and fees. They were pretty close to the city and out of the wild lands, so he wasn't expecting any trouble. This run had been better than most and the collected bounties would let them take a break for a couple days before they would need to go out again.

Elgin propped up his feet on the rusted piece of machinery and thought this was definitely a better life than being one of the House Gangs. He remembered when he had started out as a Juve, almost being killed every other day and somehow surviving. He quickly worked his way up the ranks and into a leadership position. It had not been easy to watch as his gangers die so he decided to the endless cycle of attacks and retaliation and do something else. Finding that something else had been the problem.

Then the answer came when one day after they had taken some other gang members prisoners. They had set up ambushes and sat around waiting to see if anyone came to rescue them. After a while when no one did he turned the prisoners over to some Guilders who paid him for the ones who had bounties on their heads and mentioned what they could do with the other gang members. Even then it had not been about the credits although his gang members had loved them. No, it had been the respect the Guilders had shown them for turning in the prisoners. He then started to notice that the settlers who only showed them fear and behind their backs contempt showed them something else. Something he wanted to see more of.

After that encounter, he had taken his gang and gone after some low score bounties. No one to serious or hard to find. In fact, some of them had just been sitting in a bar drinking and thinking they were clear of everything until they were surrounded by guns and gangers. While the bounties had not been great, they had been more credits than the gang had gotteen for scaring settlers into giving up some food and ammo. Also, it had been easier and nowhere near as deadly then trying to take territory from other gangs or raiding them on orders from higher up in the House.

More than that the murderers, rapists, arsonists, wild psyckers, trade caravan raiders and con artists they had captured made the Underhive a little safer and that had made the settlers they had usually terrified, grateful. It had also showed the Guilders they could count on Elgin Stewart and his gang. Slowly he had upped the catches and the bounties. No one that was seriously dangerous but still twenty new turned gangers could catch some pretty good bounties. He would leave the truly insane ones to Kal Jericho and his ilk. Catching the ones the Guilders did not want to spend their time to go after or who had a good sized following that only a similar sized gang could handle was their meat.

Of course it had not been all Wild Snake and real food. Some of their former enemies still had grudges and attacked them like they always had. Their House had not wanted to let them just walk away from the life either. In the end, he had worked out deals with everyone like collecting some bounties that benefited the other gangs, like taking out a cheating arms dealer or a one of their gang leaders who was becoming a problem. Giving the House a cut of their earnings had paved things over pretty well with them. After all, the House had plenty of gangers to use as muscle but good credit earners were harder to come by.

Hagar, his new second in command came up to him and said, "All the captives are ready and the gangs had some lunch. Ah so we're ready to go whenever you want to."

Elgin nodded and said, "Sooner we get paid the sooner we can hit the bars. Let's pack them up and get them turned over."

Hagar just gave a weak salute and moved to get the others going. Elgin knew he was trying his best and would get the hang of what a second in command did sooner or later, so he just let him do it. There was a lot more to running a gang of bounty hunters than shooting guns and collecting the credits. Hagar had not realized all that would be involved when Elgin had picked him to take Somerset's place. He had just looked at the bigger cut he would be getting and not at what the job really meant. Still Elgin had faith he would catch on. He also did not have much faith anyone else in the gang to do the job.

Thinking on how Somerset had just made one mistake. He should have known better than to be relaxing before the bounty's hidey hole had been properly cleared and then the bounty's boyfriend had popped up all hopped up on Frenzon and shot Somerset and two others before the rest of the gang had could take him down. Hagar had done the kill shot; he had always been a better shot then Somerset so Elgin had given him the chance at the job. Still Hagar could not match Somerset at keeping the books and doing the figures.

Picking himself up, Elgin grabbed his customized bolt gun and stun stick and moved with his gang and prisoners toward their destinations. First the two hours toward the Guilder's Hall and meet up with Lexington and collect the bounties. Then on to the manufactorum.

When they left the Guilder Hall the gang was twelve captives lighter and 600 credits heavier. Still doing the rough numbers in his head, Elgin figured that after all costs this would break them even with only a little left for the bars and companionship. He would need to keep things under wraps for a little while so his gang didn't get too upset at how soon they would need to start collecting bounties again.

Looking at the line of remaining captives, he moved quickly and slapped Mulmond up the head and gave him a glaring look.

Mulmond dropped the flask he had been carrying and turned his eyes to the ground and then said, "Sorry boss."

Elgin said, "You know the rules no drinking on the job. We still have to get these ones up to the manufactorum and that is in the nice part of town. We don't want to present a bad image now do we?"

Mulmond just said, "No boss no we don't."

Thinking Mulmond had had enough, Elgin said, "Get back with Hagar and make sure none of these ones are coming down from the Kalma."

Mulmond did not respond and just slinked away to find the second in command. He was one of the newer juves and still needed a tight leash. Elgin had seen him fight and felt he had potential to be something. But if he let himself go into the vices Elgin might have to shoot him himself.

He continued walking and keeping an eye on things. The gang looked good. They were wearing fairly clean matching clothes of functional instead of flashy design. Their firearms were slung, and melee weapons sheathed. No one would give them any trouble as has they didn't start any. They were getting to the nicer part of the Underhive where people did not walk around with weapons at the ready and fingers on triggers and the Guilders patrolled the streets and side streets instead of just remaining in their bunkers. Here there were shops with glass windows and only a few beggars to kick out of the way. The air was clearer and not as sour smelling as the parts of the Underhive Elgin usually inhabited.

Elgin could hear a couple of his gang talking about one day quitting bounty hunting and retiring to this area, maybe hiring themselves out as guards to some of the richer Underhivers. He let them have their talk and dreams. Maybe if they saved up they would be able to and that would work to his advantage. Some gang leaders would crush any thought of leaving the gang life and therefore disloyalty to its leader. Elgin knew if others saw a way out of the endless battles then they would flock to him and he would have his pick of fighters, maybe even running a few gangs of bounty hunters while he sat in a nice house and reaped the profits. He already had a good start in his account the Guilders kept for him. A cut of the bounties his gang members never saw.

As the landscape changed from maintained shops and hab units to maintained manufactorums he allowed himself to smile as they got close to their destination. It had been his greatest stroke of genius when he had taken the Guilder's advice and made a deal with the owners of their destination. Despite the image that of the bounties in the tall tales told around junk fires, they were seldom living alone out in the most desolate parts of the Underhive. Most had some others with them either followers or they were part of a gang. Some were family of the bounties who had fled into the deeper Underhive with them.

The problem came that many of those they captured with the bounty did not have their own bounties on their heads. The Guilders would not take them and he could not just let them go. He knew that one day allowing those with a grudge against him and his gang go free would prove disastrous later. There were many who would gladly give him credits for these captives but the one he had settled on had the benefits of not only paying a good price, being totally legal but guaranteed that the captives would never come back to haunt them again.

They closed in on one manufactorum that was a little different than the others. It was as big and old as the others. It did not have any windows and only a few large doors like the others. Here at this one, you did not see the movement of workers coming and going. Those that worked here did not need to ever leave the manufactorum, all their needs were met inside.

They did leave the manufactorum for a few reasons and one of them was to meet Elgin and his gang. Standing just inside the fence surrounding the manufactorum was a single figure with a half dozen servitors standing behind him. Although Elgin was not sure if the figure was male or female, he guessed male. He stood over two meters tall and was covered in a long dark blue hooded cape. The only thing he could see of him was his face. There was no visible skin on the face. Everything had been replaced with augments. Even the voice that greeted him was metallic and cogitator thin.

Elgin spoke in a more formal and deeper voice than he usually did and said, "Greetings to you Tech Priest Jushin."

The Tech Priest said, "Also greetings to you Bounty Hunter Stewart, I see you have made it at the appropriate time with your next delivery."

Elgin said, "I would not wish to waste any of your valuable time Tech Priest. I know your duties to the Emperor and Omnissiah are extensive."

The Tech Priest said, "I thank you for your consideration."

The Tech Priest turned his gaze toward the twelve captives. Elgin could hear gears and cogs whirling quietly as his contact evaluated the delivery. After a minute, the Tech Priest turned back to Elgin and said, "Very good looking group this time. They will do for our needs. You have the papers for them."

Elgin said, "Yes, of course."

He then stepped closer toward the Tech Priest and handed over the Guild bond sheets the Guilders had given him to show these people had been legitimately taken during a sanctioned bounty hunt. The Tech Priest's metallic hand brushed Elgin's flesh one and sent a cold shiver down his spine.

The Tech Priest did not look at the paperwork as a sign of the trust he had in Elgin. They had been dealing together for a while now and both felt some trust in the other. Signaling to the servitors they moved forward and collected the captives. All of Elgin's gangers dropped back to allow them too since they did not want to get any closer to the servitors then they had too.

Once the captives were taken inside, the Tech Priest said, "Now as to payment for your delivery. This lot covers the cost of the service you asked of us. I present you with your product."

From inside the voluminous robes he wore, the Tech Priest reached in and came out with a skull. It was not a plain skull but one with as many augmentations on it as the Tech Priest had. Tech Priest Jushin said a prayer over the skull and then used to tendrils on the back of his hand to bring it to life. The robotic eyes began to glow blue and several other smaller lights in green, red, yellow, white and blue also began to glow. After a few moments a gentle whirling sound began and the skull flew out of the Tech Priest's hand a began to hover over Elgin's shoulder.

The Tech Priest said, "You will need to address the servo skull's machine spirit regularly but otherwise it is self-maintaining and self-repairing. If it does suffer any damage that it cannot repair then bring it back to us here and we will do our best to appease the machine spirit and bring it back to full functionality or replace it."

With that the Tech Priest stepped forward and handed Elgin a small prayer book with the proper sayings and ceremonies to keep the servo skull operating. Elgin took it this time making sure not to touch the Tech Priest's hand and said, "Thank you. One question will it listen to only my voice commands or can it be programmed to obey others?"

The Tech Priest said, "You can have others give it commands, this is covered in the Prayer of Multi-person Command. We do recommend that no more than three people be allowed to give it commands. Otherwise it can lead the machine spirit to confession and disharmony."

Elgin said, "Thank you again. I will not hold you any longer as I am sure you have many other things that you need to accomplish."

The Tech Priest said, "Until we meet again, may the Omnissiah bless your endeavors and keep you safe."

With that said the Tech Priest turned around and headed back into the manufactorum. Elgin turned and after a quick look into the little prayer book, read to the servo skull. He said, "Spirit of the skull, I entreat you to bond with the tones of my voice. Engage the blessed circuits the mighty Omnissiah has installed in you and prepare yourself to aid and assist me in my en devours. Access subroutine B567-RT43 Elgin Stewart. "

At the end of his prayer, all of the lights on the servo skull flashed green and then went back to the colors they had before. A voice that sounded familiar to all of the gang members said, "Greetings Elgin Stewart. How my I serve you?"

Elgin smiled and said, "I want you to bond with one other and then begin to store records of our bounty hunting activities. I will explain them in full later."

Elgin then called Hagar over to him and explained how to bond himself with the servo skull. Hagar did not look too happy about his new assistant but did as he was told. Elgin then started the gang back to some place they could get some drinks and fun. He knew the servo skull would not be popular with the gang. They were not the most comfortable with high tech things but Elgin was thinking about the future. Now they would be able to organize better, and it would make any rivals jealous.

When he first thought about getting one of the servo skulls and asked Tech Priest Jushin the price had been high. The Tech Priest was also a smart dealer and worked with him. He brought in some special bounties for him and by providing a skull that was already used to the work they did it became affordable.

There were added bonuses to this. He now had his best second in command back with him again, even if it was in a slightly reduced physical capacity. It also sent a clear message to the rest of the gang. If you screwed up and got yourself killed, it didn't mean you stopped serving the Elgin Stewart bounty hunters.


End file.
